TSS: A winner and some armour

First things first: I have been remiss in announcing the winner of Tea and Other Ayama Na Tales. The lucky winner is Claire, lucky commenter number 5 (but lucky entrant number 4), thanks to random.org. Claire, I will be emailing you shortly, but if you happen to see this post before I do, please send me an email. Thanks!

I just spent a somewhat interesting day in Leeds, a bigger city which is only a 20 minute train ride away. My initial purpose was to copy a couple of articles from a journal to which that university subscribes, but since I was paying train fare, I also decided to stop by the Royal Armouries Museum. I was disappointed that they weren’t holding a joust today since it’s “Wild West Week”, but otherwise I thought it was awesome. Keith preferred the modern guns, but I was all about the medieval armour. Who would have guessed?

Here’s a picture from the museum, full body 15th century armour:

They also had a clever display where you could stick your head into a helmet and try to see what was going on in a virtual battle. It was nearly impossible; I can’t say I’d want to face someone with nearly all of my vision blocked!

As for reading, I’m about halfway into Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. For all that it isn’t as good as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, I’m loving it. These days I feel that I love fewer and fewer books, although I like almost all that I read; maybe I just read too many of them these days and I’m learning to separate the wheat from the chaff a little better. With this book, however, I would have preferred knowing a bit less about the plot. I’m at the middle of the book and the last event that the back cover promised has just happened, albeit with a surprise in between. I try to give away as little as possible in my reviews and this is why; I dislike feeling impatient to get to a part I don’t expect. I’m now excited to see what happens next and hope to finish the book either later today or early tomorrow. Next up is Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler, a library book which is due back on Thursday, and then I’ve got to get to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.

I’m quite pleased with my reading since last Sunday. I completed:

Atlas of Unknowns by Tania James

The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi

Undead and Unwelcome by MaryJanice Davidson

Starfinder by John Marco

The Bridge of the Golden Horn by Emine Sevgi Ozdamar

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Warrior Daughter by Janet Paisley

As a result, my TBR mountain has dropped below 350. I’m very pleased with myself, although I’m going to a library sale on Friday and will probably undo all the good work I’ve done. Oh well. It’s worth it for a bag of books for £3.50.

I’m glad to hear the visit to the Armoury was fun, even with no joust. I find medieval armour fascinating too.

Sometimes I think that reading so much is making me more demanding and harder to satisfy as a reader too, but then I go through phases where I read a bunch of amazing books in a row. I guess reading a lot does raise our standards, but fortunately there are still books out there that are good enough to meet them.

I am glad you enjoyed your time at the Royal Armouries Museum, even without the joust. I thought the picture was especially captivating considering the time period the armour must have been used in and the more modern backdrop.

I know what you mean about really liking what you are reading but not finding those cream of the crop books. You did a wonderful amount of reading recently. I am behind in the MaryJanice Davidson’s series. I can’t remember the last time I picked up one of her books. I got the ladies at work started on the series though and they are really enjoying them. Patricia Briggs is an author I keep meaning to try.

I agree that it feels unusual to find a book I LOVE. I read so much more though, and sometimes er, it feels a bit like work. Whereas before, I think I just purely enjoyed the process of reading more. But…I’m not at the point where I’m going to make any changes.